Merry Christmas from Nepal!

 Merry Christmas from Nepal. I woke up this morning at the guesthouse in Kathmandu and again witnessed a spectacular sunrise. After my typical delicious breakfast of two fried eggs ("both sides"), two slices of toast with jam, one small banana and a cup of Nescafé coffee, I joined Dr. Kafle for the ride to Dhulikhel.

I spent most of the day in my Dhulikhel apartment just getting reorganized and getting some work done on my computer. I joined Manisha and Seris for lunch at the canteen. The warm mid-day sun is delightful. Here we are toasting Christmas with our post-meal milk tea.

Tonight I found a laundry service about a 20 minute walk from my apartment and dropped off 17 pieces of laundry there. It should be ready tomorrow after work. I was almost ready to do the laundry myself in a bucket, but this should be a better option.  After having been here 5 1/2 weeks now, having only 17 pieces of clothing requiring laundering seems minimal.

I met my three "BFFs" for dinner tonight. These are the women who helped me go shopping at the Bhat Bhateni when I first arrived here and needed supplies for my apartment. Tonight we dined at at the "3 Crowns Restaurant" which is across the street from that laundry. Two of these delightful young women are recently graduated general dentists who are employed in the department of conservative dentistry and endodontics as practicing dentists. The third woman is a senior dental student/intern who should be fully graduated and licensed within the next month or so. They included their friend, Santos, in our dinner group. He is a recently graduated medical student now applying for specialty residency training. We had a fine meal of chicken and veg momos, sesame chicken, spicy fried potatoes and spicy corn. They specifically requested that the food would not be too spicy for me. It was delicious. I picked up the chaeck ($15 US). Where Dr. Roshani lodges, they lock the door/gate at 8:30 PM, so she needed to get home on time. Santos graciously offered and provided me a ride back to the Dhulikhel Hospital on the back of his scooter. What a special Christmas dinner among friends! Included is a street scene from the front door of the 3 Crowns.